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  • José H. Leal

Shell of the Week: The Tiger Lucine


Codakia orbicularis (Linnaeus, 1758) reaches 85 mm (about 3.35 inch), and has a circular-oval shell. The shell sculpture consists of radial lines crossed by finer commarginal (concentric) threads. The shells color is white, with the internal shell surface sometimes yellow, and internal margins sometimes tinged with pink color. This is a common species in the tropical Western Atlantic, including the East Coast of Florida and the Florida Keys. Although there is a good record from Kice Island (collected by Amy Tripp in 2011), the few records of the species for Sanibel present in the Museum collection are most likely cases of mislabeled locality data.


The Tiger Lucine, Codakia orbicularis. Photos by James F. Kelly.
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